“In recent years, it has become popular to ‘set goals.’ Goal setting is a process of focusing the mind on a desired result. It is one more attempt by the mind to make the world do what we want it to do. This is not spiritual surrender.
A Course in Miracles makes a distinction between magic and miracles. Magic is the process of focusing the mind on a desired manifestation: it’s handing God a shopping list and saying, ‘Do this.’ Miracles happen when we ask God, ‘What would You have me do?’
A miracle is a shift in thinking from ‘getting’ to ‘giving.’… A miracle worker’s goal in any situation is peace of mind. The Course says, ‘I do not know what anything is for,’ and ‘I do not know what would make me happy.’
We have all received things we thought would make us happy, only to find they didn’t… A miracle worker’s goal is to set the goal as happiness itself, and then let go of the thought that we know how it’s supposed to look. Once we really understand that God’s will for us is happiness, we no longer feel the need to pray for anything but the manifestation of His will.”
— Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love
